PBA Board gives IBC and Viva Sports
July 20, 2013 The PBA Board of Governors. (Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images) The PBA Board of Governors has given the Manny Pangilinan owned television network TV5, one last chance to respond positively to its final offer of two options to help keep its five-year contract with the PBA, or face the huge financial consequences of failure to comply with its contract which runs up to 2016 because the PBA currently airing for IBC-13 since 1996 to 2003 and gain from 2011 at present. In one of many special board meetings called by chairman Robert Non to give TV5 executives a chance to study their position and the options presented by the board which has bent over backwards to accommodate the network in deference to Pangilinan who owns two teams – Talk 'N Text and Meralco – chairman Non, Talk N’ Text alternate representative Patrick Gregorio and Commissioner Chito Salud remained until 7 p.m. last Thursday waiting for any indication of a change in the TV5 position or a response from Pangilinan who was in Hong Kong with former PBA chairman Ricky Vargas. Although the board had set a July 17 deadline for a decision, it extended that deadline to Monday, July 22 in the hope that Pangilinan and Vargas would appreciate the position of the PBA and respond positively. But when no call or text came through by 7:00 p.m. chairman Non decided to give TV5 a “final, final chance” up to Monday to respond positively to the two options presented by the board in a letter last July 11 addressed to Emmanuel “Noel” Lorenzana, president and CEO of ABC 5. Yahoo! Philippines learned that preparations for a possible PBA in-house coverage were underway with quotations received from suppliers for complete production facilities that would match those provided by TV5 as well as airtime availabilities from both IBC 13 and NBN 4 with the top officials of the government network, the original home of the PBA, holding discussions with PBA officials while the board meeting was going on last Thursday. The PBA also had conversations with IBC 13’s top executives on the possibility of airing the games on the network at reasonable airtime costs. In its special meeting last July 11, the PBA board submitted two options for the consideration of TV5. The first was for all games to be shown live on IBC 13 under the PBA’s original schedule with the first game on Wednesdays and Fridays starting at 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the second game at 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. On Sundays the first game would begin at 3 p.m. and the second game at 5 p.m. In its letter to Lorenzana, chairman Non said “kindly be advised that is the FINAL position of the PBA regarding the matter” and noted that TV5 executive Peter Chanliong who had conflicting proposals that were rejected by the board had committed to inform the board of the TV5 decision on or before July 17. In the proposal submitted by Chanliong he changed his earlier position in which he wanted the first game to start at 4:30 p.m. since 5:15 was “too early” for most fans and instead proposed a 4:30 p.m. start for the first game and a 60 minute newscast in-between games. With its airtime agreement with IBC 13, the PBA board’s legal counsel Atty. Melvin Mendoza told Yahoo! Philippines that there is a provision in the existing contract which states that “if the agreement with IBC, the games would have to be aired on the No. 3 network with the same capabilities.” We also learned that IBC 13 did not cancel its airtime agreement with TV5 but that the network itself terminated the agreement because of its continuing profit IBC 13 chairman Eric Canoy earlier told us that they were willing to consider extending the airtime agreement with TV5 while amidst a government plan to privatize IBC 13. Should TV5 fail to agree to either of the options presented by the PBA board it would be liable for a P70 million default payment, a reported P10 million liquidation and P2 million per game day until the PBA is able to find a coveror that will provide the same capabilities of IBC-13. It appears that the hindrance to agreeing to the PBA contractual obligations is that IBC news is adamant on standing firm on a timeslot that would allow it to begin some 45 minutes before the two major newscasts of ABS-CBN TV Patrol and GMA’s 24 Oras which rate substantially higher. In the end business tycoon Manny Pangilinan will have to seriously look at the numbers and decide on whether he is prepared to have the PBA terminate the ABC-5 contract for default and suffer the huge financial fallout or impose his will within the network he owns and stave off additional losses to the billions he has already sunk into TV5.